Cull: The Problem with "Culling" Whitetails

I've watched the social media posts throughout this deer season:  Some young hunter, who is usually just looking for an opinion from more experienced hunters about the deer he is hunting.  He asks for help aging a deer or speculates that it might be a “cull.” The other scenario that I've seen is that a hunter has proudly killed a “cull” in the name of deer management and posted it for everyone on the interwebs to see.

Let’s state the obvious – There are genetically inferior deer.  Now let's state what may not be so obvious -  At the risk of being called a “heretic” by some, you and I cannot control the genetics of whitetail deer in the wild.  A high fence operation can, but I can't control whitetail  genetics on my 200 acres and you can't control the genetics on your 2000 acre hunting club unless of course you've got a high fence around it.

Don't take my word for it.  Read this article:  https://www.qdma.com/cant-manage-deer-genetics/

The article outlines the realities that we’d do well to embrace if we genuinely care about the resource we love to pursue.

You will see deer in the wild that have racks lacking desirable features.  Some wouldn't earn a place on the back side of your skinning shack much less on your wall in your trophy room but what if that does have a lot to do with you and I?  Maybe you are thinking, “Man, didn't you just say that we can't manage genetics?”  Yes, I did.  The reality is that most of the deer we see that seem to be lacking are lacking….they aren't lacking in genetics but rather in nutrition.  Simply put, we don't provide our deer with what they need to grow the racks we want them to grow.

Next time you see what you think is a “cull”, before you kill the deer, ask yourself if you've done everything you can to make sure that buck can grow into everything he could be.  If you haven't, then your work shouldn't be dragging a deer out but rather providing better nutrition for the deer that utilize your property.  Too many of us simply throw rye grass out or put a feeder up and hope to attract a 140” deer.  It's time for us to step back and do the work (soil samples, lime, cultivating native browse, researching forage options, etc) to ensure that we and future generations can see the type of deer we dream of.  Yes, some deer in some areas grow smaller than others but you and I can do more to provide the habitat and nutrition deer need.

When we do this, we increase the likelihood of holding deer on our properties and being able to watch deer grow.  I’ve seen first hand what happens when you spend your energy this way.  We’ve grown a few bucks on our place in South Mississippi that most hunters would be proud to hang on a wall.  They are hard to hunt and super smart but we know they are there and we know we’ve provided what they need to grow.

The other reality is that many “culls” that I've seen on social media are simply young deer.  Take some time to study and learn how to age deer on the hoof.  If you can recognize young deer and see them for what they are (young bucks with years of growth ahead of them) then you can appreciate seeing these animals in the wild and let them walk knowing that you may get a chance to harvest them down the road.

Here are two helpful articles:

1. https://www.qdma.com/aging-bucks-on-the-hoof/
2. https://www.qdma.com/7-sins-aging-bucks-hoof/

In our state, there is no good way to determine what deer are actually being harvested. There is no tagging system and a I am doubtful that the voluntary reporting of harvests is quantitative enough to provide really solid data.  My guess is that many hunters have an “if it's brown it's down” mentality, simply don't care about growing mature deer or stewarding the resource.  If we could agree that these two things (providing better nutrition / habitat and committing to harvest mature deer while letting young deer walk) are steps we can/should take and can control then we would see better deer and experience better deer hunting in our state.